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Messiah: Suffering Servant Or Victorious King? Pt 1

by | Wed, Apr 18 2018

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We mentioned in a previous program while discussing the identity of the person mentioned in Isaiah 53 that rabbis and religious Jewish leaders for most of the past 2000 years have denied that the identity is that of the Messiah, and that rather it’s talking about the Jewish people as an ethnic collective. We know that’s wrong on all counts and we also know that the reason for this denial is in large part, the Christian anti-Semitism and persecution that the Jewish people have endured since Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and beyond.

We’re going to continue that discussion today but from the point of what the Messiah’s role was supposed to be and that in that particular role, we would be able to identify Him.

When you read through the Old Covenant prophecies you can actually identify two distinct roles for the Messiah and as a result of the Christian persecution and hatred toward Jewish people throughout church history, Jews have embraced one particular identity and rejected the other. The two distinct roles that are descriptions of the Messiah are that He is a Suffering Servant (Mashiach ben Yosef) or a Victorious King and warrior (Mashiach ben Da’vid). So which one is He?

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef made the statement that when the Messiah comes, he will wipe out all the Arabs. “With one ‘poof’ he will blow them all away, who are the nations of the world? What are they? When our righteous Messiah comes he will not be afraid of anyone. And will send all these Arabs to hell.” Why would this rabbi say such a thing? Because he and his people have also been mercilessly persecuted and slaughtered by the Arab nations throughout the Middle East and the Bible does say that when Messiah comes He’ll conquer all those nations who have harmed His people.

So which one is it? Is the Messiah Mashiach ben Yosef or Mashiach ben Da’vid? Is Messiah supposed to suffer for His people or is He supposed to come as a warrior King and deliver them? He can’t be both…can He?

Firstly, why is there an association with Messiah and Joseph? Who was Joseph? He was one of Jacob’s sons, who was rejected and despised by his brothers, sold into slavery, imprisoned, wrongly accused and condemned, believed to be dead until they learned that he was alive, he ultimately delivered his family from certain death by starvation and ultimately provided them with security and salvation and protection. His role as Prime Minister of Egypt also meant salvation from starvation for all of Egypt and the surrounding nations who travelled to buy food from him. Remember what he said to his brothers when he revealed his identity to them.

Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

Joseph is the example of a suffering servant whose life was given to save the many. To quickly remember the program about Isaiah 53, it prophesied that Messiah would come and suffer for the people, be rejected and despised, He’d die and rise to life again before receiving His due reward and honour. That very much describes a suffering servant. This is where the title ‘Mashiach ben Yosef’ comes from…Messiah son of Joseph.

Secondly, there’s the association of Messiah with king David. David is known as the greatest king Israel ever had, a warrior king who not only loved God with every fibre of his being, but he loved and cared for his people. He led his nation to victory repeatedly and the years of his rule are known as the golden age of Israel. It’s also a well-known fact that it’s from David’s line that the Messiah would eventually come. That’s known as the Davidic Covenant.

Psalm 132:11, ‘The Lord has sworn to David a truth from which He will not turn back: “Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.”’

This is where the title ‘Mashiach ben Da’vid’ comes from…Messiah son of David.

Today, more and more Jewish religious leaders and rabbis are having to grapple with the issue of Messiah as described in Isaiah 53, they’re having to reconcile the fact that there are two very distinct descriptions of their Messiah mentioned all through the Old Covenant and they’re wrestling with how to reconcile them both and it’s very, very difficult for them.

How can He be rejected, hated, suffer and die while at the same time ruling, reigning and putting His enemies under His feet and judging all the earth from His throne in Jerusalem. How can this possibly be a description of the same person?

Well, in some quarters it’s believed that there will be two Messiahs…but most religious Jewish leaders believe that how or what the Messiah comes represented as – either a Suffering Servant or a Warrior King – depends on them and how they’re behaving.

They believe that if they behave well, are committed to obeying His Word and fulfil the obligations of the Law and do good deeds for others, Messiah will come as Mashiach ben Da’vid, He’ll establish a kingdom of righteousness and the new temple that will eventually be built by Him will be a house of prayer and worship for all the nations of the world and all unrighteousness around the earth will be done away with.

So in essence, many – certainly not all – but many religious Jews today believe that depending on how they behave, one or the other Messiahs will come. If they behave unfavourably, He’ll come to suffer on their behalf, but if they behave favourably, He’ll come as a warrior King to rule all the nations wisely and equitably.

Of course, the major prevailing view today is that Messiah will only come as a victorious King, not as a suffering servant; they argue that Jesus couldn’t possibly the Messiah because when He came, He didn’t establish an eternal kingdom which is characterised by righteousness that did away with unrighteousness and sin and war and everything we see taking place in the world. As we’ve mentioned in other programs however, the historical view was always that Isaiah 53 spoke about the Messiah, even though for political purposes, that view changed over time to be speaking about ethnic Israel, which of course is incorrect.

We’ll look at some of those views in our next program and what the implications are for the whole world.

 

 

Shalom

Mandy

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is based in part on an article from oneforisrael.org